1. Field of the Present Invention
The present invention generally relates to air flow management within an electronic equipment enclosure, and in particular to, adjustable panels that enable selective directing of exhausted air within an electronic equipment enclosure.
2. Background
Racks, frames, cabinets and the like for supporting computer and other electronic equipment are well known. Such support apparatus are often partially or fully enclosed, either directly through the use of doors and panels mounted directly thereon, or indirectly by lining several such apparatuses up in a row such that the sides of each rack are immediately adjacent another rack.
As is also well known, the electronic equipment mounted therein tends to generate large amounts of heat that need to be exhausted away from the equipment effectively in order to maintain the equipment in proper operating order or to prevent damage thereto. As equipment has become more densely packed with electronics, the quantities of heat have continued to increase in recent years. Heat management has thus become a significant issue confronting today's rack, cabinet, frame and enclosure manufacturers, the manufacturers of the electronic equipment, and the users of such equipment.
Each piece of equipment is often enclosed within an individual chassis or housing that includes a location, typically referred to as an exhaust grille, where air that has been circulated therethrough is exhausted. The heated air is frequently forced or forcibly drawn out of the various active pieces of equipment through exhaust grilles of the equipment by internal fans, often supplemented by separate fans mounted in or on the enclosure 10. In many pieces of equipment, the exhaust grille is located on the rear of the equipment, and the equipment is often cooled by bringing cool air to the front of the equipment and exhausted through the rear, often through a door or through exhaust openings in a panel. Other equipment uses the opposite configuration, wherein cool air is brought to the rear of the equipment and exhausted through the front; this may be handled generally similarly as the rear exhaust except that the front and rear of the cabinet are generally reversed.
However, other equipment is arranged to receive cold air from the side and to exhaust heated air from the opposite side. For example, a common piece of electronic equipment in modern computer networks is a switch. Switches tend to generate a significant amount of heat, and therefore are of particular concern in exhausting heat from an electronic equipment enclosure, and at least some are manufactured with inlets on one side and exhaust grilles on the other side. Such equipment requires different treatment than front/rear exhaust equipment.
Currently, in order to remove heated switch exhaust air from the side of an electronic equipment enclosure, the switch exhaust grille is coupled with or connected to an individual exhaust duct that is specifically designed and sized to fit the particular type of switch being used. It is important that the switch grille and the exhaust duct inlet are similarly sized so that exhaust air is routed outside of the enclosure through the duct rather than being released into the interior of the enclosure where it would adversely affect the equipment stored therein. Because of the individual sizing, a different exhaust duct must be used for differently sized switches.
Such particularity in exhaust duct size and configuration is a significant drawback in modern networked computer systems wherein switches are often changed to update or change an existing system to a new system. One problem is the inefficiencies that are created by using different exhaust ducts for different switches. Another problem is the amount of time that it takes to change out a switch because the entire enclosure has to be dismantled to remove and change out the exhaust duct as well. Further, although much of the discussion herein focuses on switches as an exemplary piece of equipment, it is to be understood that similar problems exist with all heat generating electronic equipment. In addition, the amount and rate of air that may be exhausted from a particular equipment chassis is limited by the size of the individual exhaust duct being used. Often the flow of exhausted air is impeded by the volume of the exhaust duct thereby adversely affecting the temperature of the equipment to which the duct is attached.
A versatile, adjustable solution that enables the use of a universal exhaust duct with multiple kinds and sizes of electronic equipment chassis, and particularly multiple sizes of switch chassis, is needed. In addition, a solution that allows for the use of a relatively larger volume exhaust duct is needed.